We all know by now that Tua Tagovailoa was injured against Tennessee back on Oct. 19 and had surgery on his ankle the following day. What we don’t know is how recovered Tagovailoa’s ankle is a few weeks into his rehab.

All that Nick Saban will say when it comes to the status of his star quarterback is that the junior signal-caller is a “game-time decision” heading into Alabama’s showdown against LSU.

Despite what Alabama is trying to sell, no one is expecting the Crimson Tide to take the field without the Heisman Trophy candidate — even Ed Orgeron says LSU is fully expecting Tagovailoa to play on Saturday. That being said, just how far along Tagovailoa is in his recovery does remain a mystery.

One person that doesn’t have to toe the company line for Alabama when it comes to Tua’s status is CBS analyst Gary Danielson. The analyst will be working the upcoming Alabama-LSU game for CBS on Saturday and after viewing the Tide practice on Thursday, Danielson shared his takeaway from seeing Tua on the practice field.

“I watched Tua practice (Thursday), he’s not 100%. I don’t care what Alabama says…he doesn’t have that spring in his step, it’s not natural,” Danielson said to SiriusXM show ‘SEC This Morning’ according to the show’s host Peter Burns. “He’s okay…I’d be playing if I was him, but he’s not the Tua that started the season.”

That’s got to be a concern for Alabama fans heading into the biggest game of their season. It’s going to take Tua executing at a high level to beat LSU and while nothing Danielson said should leave fans thinking the Tide can’t win on Saturday, the odds to do so may have just taken a hit.

Here is a clip of Danielson’s appearance on the show: